IANTD quality and acceptance of their certs?

[mwenner]

When I got full cave, my instructor impied that the Tech Cave, with IANTD would allow the use of 100% O2, and that it would be recognized internationally. I guess I'd call on a TDI instructor, like TJ@dayoscuba.com to make the call on that one. That sounded logical to me, so I went CDS and IANTD with Full Cave, and then went TDI with Decompression and Trimix, and Naui and TDI with Rebreather? In some isolated situation, you may get caught in some remote place without the right card, but calling ahead, while you're setting up the trip might eliminate an "oh, oh" moment.

[chuuk]

This is why throughout my cave diving carrer if an instructor could give me two differant certs I would pay the extra 20 or 25 dollars for it. Having travelled Europe throughout my diving carreer some places accept some certs from organizations but not from others. I have also had this problem in Florida also which is quite surprizing. In Europe I have found TDI and AINTD are widely accepted but remember the European organizations are the main. Again I have been asked why two cards-I think this thread answers the questions.

[WJH]

as far as i know, iantd is accepted & an excellent education, but maybe someone can shed some light on something said on scubaboard. do they not cover deco, even marginally, in their full class? the guy said they didn't but i have trouble buying that.

Not in Intro, but IANTD Tech Cave includes deco and stages.

WJH

[bigblock119]

Thanks everybody I really appreciate the help tech and cave and cavern courses are expensive and I just want to make sure I spend my money wisely. I don't want to take marginal courses that may give a cert and not much in the way of education. I was just curious because many of the local shops dont offer iantd certs. I really appreciate all the help.

[Jaydubya]

as far as i know, iantd is accepted & an excellent education, but maybe someone can shed some light on something said on scubaboard. do they not cover deco, even marginally, in their full class? the guy said they didn't but i have trouble buying that.

We definitely did deco in my IANTD cave class. We were already deco certified, so it was pretty much just how to pickup and drop the bottle. I think (not sure) that it is possible by the IANTD standards to teach cave without teaching deco. It would only be useful for shallow systems though and I doubt such a class would be taught in Florida. Cave would be taught in conjuction with advanced nitrox for someone without prior deco experience.

I ended up receiving a technical cave card- so how is that different from cave? I don't really know.

[RN]

Not in Intro, but IANTD Tech Cave includes deco and stages.

WJH

IANTD Tech Cave has a prerequisite of Advanced Nitrox with decompression training. Students who do not meet that prerequisite can only receive an IANTD Cave card.

I don't know of any agency that "covers" deco training in class. While there are instructors that will take students into a full cave class without any deco training, I don't see that as a smart idea for North Florida cave divers. Almost every cave dive my full cave classes do end up being decompression dives. And during those 2 or 4 days I'm teaching a cave class not a deco class. I cover a lot of material and some different skills in my decompression classes and there's just not enough time to add that to a cave class. While the standards do allow for "limited decompression" they don't provide guidelines for conducting decompression training.

[Ann]

TDI and iantd has the same standards, but if you have a adv. nitrox certificate, you can follow a tech cave course from the iantd. TDI does not offer this.
I will follow the TDI full cave course in april, because there is no iantd or NACD in the place where I go on holiday. They told me that there will be no problem to dive everywhere in the world with a TDI certificate (I know a place in Brilon where they only accept iantd, nacd or gue, but if this is the only place, so be it, not a problem). In Mexico or France they accept a TDI certificate they told me, so I hope,it is true.
TDI and iantd normally has a limit of max. 40m depth (but as always as you are a trimixdiver, you can of course go deeper).

On a TDI certificate:
Trained to cave dive to the standards of guideline, air management, depth, and light rules established for safety in the overhead environment to a depth of 130 ft.

[worthy_m]

Ok - I have an IANTD Cave card - not the Tech Cave. I had an opportunity to train with two excellent instructors, one of whom was crossing over. I don't regret my choice for one moment, even if it can't be used in some places...It really was a case of choosing the instructor - and I know that as a previous poster said -- my instructor was teaching to the same standards for all the agencies he teaches for. I guess it could be an NSS/CDS or NACD card...
My personal thoughts also make me consider that the Cave card is more similar to Apprentice than to Full Cave, and maybe I'll get shot down for this..but it is my personal opinion. I feel like I'm still limited within my cave diving, and that is how I actually like it. I don't really want to start getting involved with long decompression obligations etc when I'm still 'green' to the cave diving world. I plan to further my cave diving training in the future anyway - I do hope that I can use it as a cross-over cert later on when I do decide to increase my level of training. I'll plan to do AN/DP and IANTD ART prior to stepping up my cave diving regardless, and as I like to spread my training out so I'm not doing cert on cert on cert, I like the fact that I have the IANTD Cave which has no expiry limit.
As I say - personal opinion only and I'm sure many others would consider their certs differently, but I feel like my view is relatively conservative and I totally recognise the need for further training at least for myself!!

[JamesK]

Thanks everybody I really appreciate the help tech and cave and cavern courses are expensive and I just want to make sure I spend my money wisely. I don't want to take marginal courses that may give a cert and not much in the way of education. I was just curious because many of the local shops dont offer iantd certs. I really appreciate all the help.

Find an instructor who can offer certs from multiple agencies.

[mwenner]

IANTD Tech Cave has a prerequisite of Advanced Nitrox with decompression training. Students who do not meet that prerequisite can only receive an IANTD Cave card.

Good point Rob! And WJH, I wouldn't consider an O2 bottle as a stage certification, but the IANTD prerequisites may have changed in past 10 years. I was not Deco or Stage trained when I did Tech Cave, and wish I was, but did have Ad Nitrox. I do see Rob's point as an instructor, trying to get through all that in a few days, with more than one student would be tough. I later took TDI's Deco/Stage, which used to be Extended Range, or something like that, I can't remember. Either way, you can't get enough training, and then it seems like we still get "hit". My cave instructor said, "it's not a question of if, it's when...." He was right.